Dan y Eugenio Moxie 88_3
Jeannette McCurdy, Kirsey Clemons, Virginia Gardner and Moises Arias, star the very first English language movie "Little Bitches" from production company Moxie 88. Mexican producers Dan Carrillo and Eugenio Villamar shared details with Latin Times. Photo: Courtesy

Jennette McCurdy, Kiersey Clemons, and Virginia Gardner lead the ensemble cast in the film "Little Bitches," a 2018 American coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by Nick Kreiss, and produced by Scott Aversano, Will Russell-Shapiro, Jorge Garcia-Castro, Diego del Río Toca, Dan Carillo Levy, Eugenio Villamar, and Dom Genest.

The film was released through video on demand on January 23, 2018, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and tells the story of Annie, Marisa, and Kelly - three rowdy, raunchy, and rebellious high school freshman friends determined not to take crap from anyone and always have each other’s backs.

Besties since always, the three women vow to open their college acceptance letters together at their epic senior bash in four years. Instead, life conspires to pull them apart and the tight buddies become best frenemies by senior year.

Latin Times spoke with Mexican producers Dan Carrillo and Eugenio Villamar from Moxie 88 on why and how they the decided to produce a film completely in English, how the cast was selected, and much more.

"We never really saw it as making a crossover, we love making films that are high concepts and stand the test of time," said the producers. "In order to reach larger audiences, we have found ourselves making films in Hollywood. It’s always been a dream of ours and we couldn’t be happier, to release our first Moxie 88 film hand in hand with one of the biggest studios in the world, Sony Pictures."

According to Carrillo and Villamar, wherever they find a good story they shoot. "For example, our next film is in English with an international cast but shoots entirely in Mexico," they revealed.

The cast of "Little Bitches" was selected unanimously. "It was a collaboration and a very thorough process by the director and all the producers involved, we wanted the voices of the new generation and we are blessed to have such an amazing cast," they said to Latin Times.

"Lead by 3 amazing women like Jennette McCurdy from iCarly , Kiersey Clemons from Dope, Ginny Gardner from Marvel’s The Runaways, and supported by such a diverse cast like Moisés Arias (Kings of Summer), Karan Soni (Deadpool), Jaime Camil (Jane The Virgin), Andrew Santino (The Disaster Artist), Khary Payton (The Walking Dead), Adrian Voo (Dear Dictator), Brianne Howey (The Exorcist) and Zachary Knighton (Happy Endings)."

Jeannette McCurdy, Kirsey Clemons, Virginia Gardner  "Little Bitches"
Jeannette McCurdy, Kirsey Clemons, Virginia Gardner and Moises Arias, star the very first English language movie "Little Bitches" from production company Moxie 88. Photo: Courtesy

The producers also revealed how the work environment was during the shootings. "It was a great shoot, in this budget range films everything has to be with extreme care since there’s no room for mistake, and an amazing crew was up to the task. But also at the same time, it was an amazing creative environment that lead to some improv from the actors when it came to the comedy," they said.

Dan Carrillo and Eugenio Villamar said "Little Bitches" it’s a film to have a good time and laugh, "it is not a pretentious film," they added. "Our goal is for the audience to identify themselves with the characters as we’ve all gone through that stage in life, we all thought our problems in high school were the end of the World, perhaps we liked a teacher, or perhaps we had body shaming issues in puberty, all these common subjects are addressed in the film, but above all the power of friendship."

The film has been given a "restricted" rating, meaning that no one under 17 should watch it without an accompanying parent or guardian. "It is a very authentic film, and that gave us an R rating so that narrows the audience a little bit, but we want everyone that wants to have a good time to be the audience." This rating is given for frequent strong language and violence, nudity for sexual purposes, and drug abuse.

As in any profession, as producers, Dan and Eugenio also faced challenges but successfully overcame them. "We think always the biggest challenge is to keep finding amazing projects and get them off the ground, we have created an amazing development division and we are very happy and excited about what comes next," they said.

After a great project comes another just as exciting as the first. For this reason, the producers have continued to work tirelessly. "We are currently in the final negotiation stages of a big tv show we created, and we have an upcoming film," they revealed. The film is called "Contained" and will start shooting April 2018 in Mexico.

The same will be directed by Moxie 88’s Co-Founder Dan Carrillo Levy with a script by Johnny Hartmann (Transformers TV Show). The cast will be announced very soon they said, adding that "there are plenty of talented people we would love to collaborate with, but it’s all about the role. Whoever can bring the best to the project, we do have a soft spot for female lead films."

After the #MeToo and #TimesUp movement, many things have changed in the industry. Latin Times questioned the Mexicans if they have taken some measures or changed the way the company is protecting the entire cast. "We have a film lead by 3 amazing women, and in our 15 years in the industry we have never had a problem with our sets or productions," they said.

"We are very careful when we pick our collaborators in front and behind the camera and professionalism is a must! Our reputation and the respect to and for our collaborators is one of our priorities."

"We have never made a salary difference, a different treatment between genre, race or sexual preference on any of our projects and as minorities in the United States," they added. "We understand the need to voice out these disastrous and terrible situations that have occurred and we are entirely against it, and will always make sure it never occurs on our watch. That’s why we are always on top of each and single one of our projects and we are always present on set."

Finally, Dan and Eugenio took the opportunity to send a message to all the Latino community, especially those who will love to follow their steps. "Don’t be afraid to dream, think big, aim high. There’s a lack of good scripts and creativity and we are trying to break that, and we need more people in that fight. We are proud of our heritage and of bringing our Latin culture and work ethics into the film business, We hope you enjoy 'Little Bitches' and all of our projects and stand strong, dream big and believe in making the impossible possible," they said.

Watch the "Little Bitches" official trailer below:

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